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Friday, May 17, 2013

Chic Storage - Decorating Your Home With Baskets

Tackling clutter is an ongoing issue in most homes.  One of my favorite ways to corral the clutter is using baskets.  Here is some great inspiration on how to use baskets in your home decor:

I love the idea of a large basket next to a sofa to contain extra pillows and blankets.


Of course, a basket on a coffee table filled with magazines is always beautiful.
I love the basket on my coffee table in my family room.


Baskets not only hide all kinds of things, but they also add texture to any space.


I love to use baskets on bookshelves.
In this basement television area, the baskets hide games and toys.

Using baskets can help to create a spa-like atmosphere in any bath area.

Any home office can benefit from the use of baskets too.  
I love these hanging baskets in powder blue to organize this space.

Do you decorate with baskets?
Have a great weekend.
  
-Judy
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

DIY Kitchen Makeover for Spring/Summer


I'd like to welcome Anna Hicks who has written a post especially for DIYbyDesign.  Enjoy!

When spring and summer comes blooming in, there’s a need to not only clean things up, but also to redesign the house or specific parts of the house. This may include the lounge, kitchen and perhaps your bedroom.
Rooms do require a little bit of spicing up from time to time. What better time is there to give a makeover to your kitchen?
It doesn't have to be a major stripping down and doing over all the floors. You can even do something like a simple picture frame turned into a serving tray kind of project.

1.  Simplify Your Kitchen
There may be a lot of clutter about. For an ideal kitchen makeover, start with cleaning it out rather than redesigning it immediately. Give the kitchen a thorough cleaning out and minimize your storage items by considering what you really need and what isn’t a necessity to be kept around.
If you have too much of certain items that you don’t require, give them away. Re-organize your cabinets and drawers and do not overwhelm your storage so that there is space left for you to actually see the things in there.

2.  Switch Up the Lighting
An easy way to alter up the entire look and mood of the kitchen room is to switch up the lighting. As kitchens are increasingly becoming a place for people to entertain their guests as well, it might be a good idea to add accent lights.
Add a picture of a wall and light it up from behind, or you can go a step ahead and add lights that are purely decorative. If you are unsure on how to handle the lighting and interior, you can always learn through art courses at interior design schools and other similar resources.

3.  Make Your Kitchen Eco-Friendly
Rather than focusing on the aesthetics, you can now also focus on making your kitchen eco-friendly. You don't necessarily have to strip off all that is beautiful, but to just make it a loving place for earth. This change is taken as being expensive, but you don't have to jump into appliances that consume less energy all at once.
When adding more lights to make your kitchen more at home and welcoming, try to use lights that save energy rather than use excessive energy. With the going green so much in vogue, many companies have made a variety of eco-friendly appliances, which means that these products are no longer outrageously expensive.

4.  Add a Little Color
If everything else fails, you can always paint the kitchen with a new color. Pale yellow and bright orange are in for the spring. If, however, even painting the entire room seems like too much of an ordeal, you can always think of other ways to make the room more colorful.

Take the items you’ve set aside to give away in your cleanup of the kitchen. Paint them a bright color and add a little shelf to your kitchen; set them up for a purely decorative purpose. You will not only save yourself from the pain of parting from those items, but also add to your kitchen a little more ambience.
DIY projects for any room don’t necessarily have to involve major design changes to the room, but little crafts and similar additions to increase the aesthetics of the room and to give it a fresh outfit.

Thanks Anna!

-Judy

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Swing into Spring - It's a Party #117

Welcome to this week's Swing into Spring party.


Before we get to this week's party let me remind you that I have a Firmoo eyewear giveaway going on. Click here to enter.

Last week's party was filled with so many awesome ideas and inspiration. 
 Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:
Dixie Delights shared her dining room before and after photos.  Gorgeous.
Woven Home shared her daughter's new big girl bed.  The bed was a hand me down from a friend, but a coat of pink paint turned it into a little girl's dream bed.

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:
Painted Therapy shared how she transformed an old dresser into this treasure.
One Day At A Time created this super cute step stool for her granddaughter.

CRAFTY CREATIONS:
Happy, Healthy and Domestic created this patio table using a free pallet!
That's right, this table was created for $0.
Live Laugh Rowe shared a tutorial on how to create a DIY cork trivet.   The damask pattern in the center was created using a stencil and a wood-burning pen.

TASTY TREATS:
One Little Project shared a tutorial with how she made the M&M cake for her daughter's 1st birthday.
What a super cute cake!
Jane's Adventures in Dinner shared her recipe for chicken pocket pies.
I love anything with pie crust!


If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.




A few rules:
1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Backyard Tour

The weather on Sunday was absolutely gorgeous for our Mother's Day celebration.  It was our first outdoor party of the season, which is always exciting, knowing that the warm weather is arriving.
Since it was such a beautiful day, it was a perfect opportunity for me to take some updated photos of the backyard.  Here is the grand tour...
The sectional sofa and coffee table are from Restoration Hardware.  I mixed these with two chairs I picked up at Target last year on clearance.

 The sectional sofa is in the shade for the majority of the day which makes it a favorite place to hang out during the summer when you are looking to escape the sun.
 You can see the pizza oven in the background which was working overtime this weekend.
Here's a closer view along with the flowers we planted.  They haven't filled in just yet since the weather is still a bit cold here.
 The patio is multi-layered and this landing by the two sliding doors has another small seating area.  We really only use the one set of sliding doors which lead to the kitchen.
 Here's another view...
 And here's a view from the backyard.
 We also put in a firepit when we built the patio.
   See that big tree in the background?  A few years back the tree was all but dead.  We invested in this tree and gave it deep root feedings and had it trimmed.  It has filled out and it is completely heathy now.
 Here's a good view of the outdoor kitchen.
 Two steps lead you directly into the pool area.

 Remember these chairs?  These were my roadside rescues.  They are still looking good.
 Hopefully by Memorial day the weather will warm up enough for everyone to use the pool.  


Don't forget to click here to enter the Firmoo sunglasses giveaway.


Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Swing into Spring party.


The party opens at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy

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